Battle of Bessang Pass

Battle of Bessang Pass
Part of the Philippines Campaign of World War II
Date 1–15 June 1945 Location Ilocos Sur, Luzon, Philippines Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  Commonwealth of the Philippines	Japan  Second Philippine Republic
Commanders and leaders
Walter Krueger Innis P. Swift Russell W. Volckmann Basilio J. Valdes	Tomoyuki Yamashita Yoshiharu Ozaki
Strength
United States Army Forces in the Philippines - Northern Luzon	73rd and 76th Infantry, Japanese 14th Area Army ~ 2,250 Japanese troops
Casualties and losses
USAFIP-NL forces: 119 killed 220 wounded[1]: 556	IJA: 2,600 killed[1]: 550

The Battle of Bessang Pass (Filipino: Labanan sa Pasong Bessang; Ilocano: Gubat ti Paso Bessang) was a major battle during the Philippines Campaign of World War II. It was fought from 9 January through 15 June 1945, Cervantes, a municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, located 382 kilometres (237 mi) north of Manila. The area serves as a gateway to the Cordillera mountains and the city of Baguio. Bessang Pass was a stronghold of the Japanese imperial forces under Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, known as the “Tiger of Malaya” and conqueror of Singapore. It was part of the triangular defense of General Yamashita in the north, namely the Balete Pass, Villaverde Trail and Bessang Pass, guarding the Ifugao-Benguet-Vizcaya borders. Its fall at the hands of the United States Army Forces in the Philippines - Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL) on June 14, 1945 paved the way for the entrapment of Yamashita’s forces in the Cordillera until the general’s surrender in September 1945.